Ukrainian Defense Forces took down at least two Merlin-VR unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles within the past few days using so-called anti-aircraft FPV drones. The first one was neutralized by the Rubizh anti-aircraft missile and artillery division in the eastern part of the country, the relevant video released September 8 by the National Guard of Ukraine, and the second appeared in a similar destruction footage from Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian activist.
Merlin-VR is no ordinary target not just for FPV interceptors but in general. Compared to Zala series or Orlan-10 drones, wiped out in dozens, nay hundreds since the outbreak of the larger war in 2022, russian invasion forces have lost only two Merlins so far, according to OSINT observations by Oryx. The actual number might be higher.
Read more: What Countermeasures russians Offer to Ukrainian Anti-Aircraft FPV Drones
Drone operators of the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade "Rubizh" shot down a new and rare Russian experimental unmanned aerial vehicle "Merlin-VR" with a special anti-aircraft FPV drone.Glory! pic.twitter.com/B9Crvgrfay— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 9, 2024
The russian state propaganda positions the Merlin-VR as an experimental reconnaissance drone; it was first presented in September 2021. Then in June 2022, the Ukrainian forces managed to shoot one of them down, and it suffered relatively low damage allowing the engineers to take a close look at what's inside.
As Defense Express mentioned in our previous detailed article, it turned out that Merlin-VR had French thermal imaging matrices Lynred (Ulis) PICO1024, and an ordinary plastic bottle instead of a fuel tank, probably to make production cheaper. Among the components, an Israeli lens and a Chinese integrated starter generator were also found inside the drone.
Another downing of a russian Merlin-VR was reported (but not recorded by OSINT'ers due to lack of visual evidence) in January 2023. Such rare appearances may indicate that the russian federation still hasn't launched this product into mass production.
The specifications of this reconnaissance UAV remain mostly undisclosed, some online sources claim it has a flight ceiling at 5,000 meters and can stay in the air for up to 10 hours. Payload capacity varies from 6.5 to 8 kg of payload depending on the source of information. The developer is the JSC Scientific Research Institute of Modern Telecommunication Technologies, based in Smolensk.
In general, today, anti-aircraft FPV drones have become a full-fledged means of defeating russian reconnaissance UAVs. To illustrate the scale, for example, Ukraine's Signum unit of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade recently reported 49 enemy aerial vehicles downed within a short time, almost entirely clearing the skies in their operating area, including 36 Zala-type, seven Supercam, five Orlan-10 drones, and even one speedy Lancet loitering munition.
Read more: What is the russian Experimental Merlin-VR UAV, That Was Shot Down by the Ukrainian Military on Wednesday
